empathy Archives - Amazing Health Advances https://amazinghealthadvances.net/tag/empathy/ Your hub for fresh-picked health and wellness info Mon, 24 Jan 2022 07:36:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AHA_Gradient_Bowl-150x150.jpg empathy Archives - Amazing Health Advances https://amazinghealthadvances.net/tag/empathy/ 32 32 The Medical Minute: Doing for Others Lifts Your Mood and Improves Your Health https://amazinghealthadvances.net/the-medical-minute-doing-for-others-lifts-your-mood-and-improves-your-health-7809/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-medical-minute-doing-for-others-lifts-your-mood-and-improves-your-health-7809 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/the-medical-minute-doing-for-others-lifts-your-mood-and-improves-your-health-7809/#respond Mon, 24 Jan 2022 08:00:03 +0000 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=13927 Penn State Health via Newswise – In the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Angel Schuster kept herself mostly isolated from friends and family. Although the situation has improved, the continued spread of COVID-19 means her long shifts as a pediatric emergency physician for Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center are often the closest she gets to a major outing. That started to change when, as the department’s vice chair for diversity, equity and inclusion, she decided to coordinate a community health fair for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national day of service celebrated on the third Monday in January each year. Planning for a community-building event turned out to be the perfect release. “One of the many reasons why community involvement is part of our mission is because we know that when you are doing for others it really lifts your mood,” Schuster said. “As a physician, when I have a chance to participate in something like a health fair, it helps me remember that I’m here to take care of people and make their lives better when I can. It is one of the things that I find very uplifting.” Those good feelings you get from helping others are universal no matter what your occupation, says Brooke Hertzler, a clinical psych specialist and licensed clinical social worker with Penn State Health Behavioral Health Services at Holy Spirit Medical Center. And, they are good for your body too. “Biologically, giving or doing an act of service can positively activate chemicals in our brain that release positive hormones,” Hertzler said. Studies show serving others is linked to increasing serotonin in the brain, a key hormone that stabilizes mood, provides feelings of well-being and happiness, she said. “It also can activate a dopamine neurotransmitter, which helps us feel pleasure and satisfaction. In addition, that same act of service or kindness releases oxytocin, a hormone often linked to empathy and trust,” Hertzler said. She believes so strongly in these positive effects that she often encourages her patients to volunteer or find a way to take time out of their day to help others. “It is something we talk about frequently. I try to find out what they like to do, what their strengths are and how they can use those strengths to help others,” she said. A big part of reaping the rewards is taking the time to reflect on how serving others makes you feel. Ninety-nine percent of Hertzler’s patients say it uplifted them and helped their mood. “Sometimes doing the act of kindness can be an awakening as well that allows you to reflect and tune into the things in your life that you are grateful for,” she said. “I believe that the positivity of doing acts of service or kindness promotes a positive energy in the world that is much needed right now.” To read the original article click here.

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]]> https://amazinghealthadvances.net/the-medical-minute-doing-for-others-lifts-your-mood-and-improves-your-health-7809/feed/ 0 How Does Your Brain Process Emotions? Answer Could Help Address Loneliness Epidemic https://amazinghealthadvances.net/how-does-your-brain-process-emotions-answer-could-help-address-loneliness-epidemic-7170/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-does-your-brain-process-emotions-answer-could-help-address-loneliness-epidemic-7170 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/how-does-your-brain-process-emotions-answer-could-help-address-loneliness-epidemic-7170/#respond Tue, 09 Mar 2021 08:00:18 +0000 http://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=11045 University of California – San Diego via EurekAlert – Research over the last decade has shown that loneliness is an important determinant of health. It is associated with considerable physical and mental health risks and increased mortality. Previous studies have also shown that wisdom could serve as a protective factor against loneliness. This inverse relationship between loneliness and wisdom may be based in different brain processes. In a study published in the March 5, 2021 online edition of Cerebral Cortex, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that specific regions of the brain respond to emotional stimuli related to loneliness and wisdom in opposing ways. “We were interested in how loneliness and wisdom relate to emotional biases, meaning how we respond to different positive and negative emotions,” said Jyoti Mishra, PhD, senior author of the study, director of the NEATLabs and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. The study involved 147 participants, ages 18 to 85. The subjects performed a simple cognitive task of determining which direction an arrow was pointed while faces with different emotions were presented in the background. “We found that when faces emoting anger were presented as distractors, they significantly slowed simple cognitive responses in lonelier individuals. This meant that lonelier individuals paid more attention to threatening stimuli, such as the angry faces.” “For wisdom, on the other hand, we found a significant positive relationship for response speeds when faces with happy emotions were shown, specifically individuals who displayed wiser traits, such as empathy, had speedier responses in the presence of happy stimuli.” Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based brain recordings showed that the part of the brain called the temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) was activating differently in lonelier versus wiser individuals. TPJ is important for processing theory of mind, or the degree of capacity for empathy and understanding of others. The study found it more active in the presence of angry emotions for lonelier people and more active in the presence of happy emotions for wiser people. Researchers also noted greater activity to threatening stimuli for lonelier individuals in the left superior parietal cortex, the brain region important for allocating attention, while wisdom was significantly related to enhanced happy emotion-driven activity in the left insula of the brain, responsible for social characteristics like empathy. “This study shows that the inverse relationship between loneliness and wisdom that we found in our previous clinical studies is at least partly embedded in neurobiology and is not merely a result of subjective biases,” said study author Dilip V. Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for the Center of Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “These findings are relevant to the mental and physical health of individuals because they give us an objective neurobiological handle on how lonelier or wiser people process information,” said Mishra. “Having biological markers that we can measure in the brain can help us develop effective treatments. Perhaps we can help answer the question, ‘Can you make a person wiser or less lonely?’ The answer could help mitigate the risk of loneliness.” The authors say next steps include a longitudinal study and an intervention study. “Ultimately, we think these evidence-based cognitive brain markers are the key to developing better health care for the future that may address the loneliness epidemic,” said Mishra. To read the original article click here.

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